"Dawn" Re-treader? | Buzz Blog

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

"Dawn" Re-treader?

Posted By on August 4, 2009, 1:14 PM

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Here's how you know you've really arrived as a writer: Not when everyone copies you, but when someone accuses you of copying them. ---

According to legal documents acquired by Website TMZ, Twilight author Stephenie Meyer is now the subject of a copyright infringement suit. Author Jordan Scott has suggested that Meyer's Breaking Dawn bears a "striking and substantial similarity" to Scott's novel The Nocturne. And they range from the vaguely plausible (both books feature a character suffering from the effects of a supernaturally-plagued pregnancy!) to the borderline insane (both books include a post-wedding sex scene!).

Courts have been littered over the years with the claims of writers insisting that their little-known works were the basis for more successful works. Earlier this summer, J. K. Rowling was accused in such a manner by the estate of late author Adrian Jacobs, who created a character called "Willy the Wizard" in the 1980s. E.T. screenwriter Melissa Matheson had to fend off a lawsuit by playwright Lisa Litchfield, arguing that the blockbuster movie was cribbed from her Lokey from Maldemar. And Utahn Sophia Stewart has famously claimed that her work The Third Eye was a source for The Matrix and its sequels.

Some such cases, of course, have actually been won by the accusers. But when Harlan Ellison sued James Cameron over The Terminator, or Art Buchwald sued Paramount Pictures over Coming to America, it was certainly easier to make a case that someone saw the source material that went on to earn big bucks.

Is this one the real deal? Wishful thinking? Envy? Craziness? Only Stephenie Meyer knows for sure.

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Scott Renshaw

Scott Renshaw

Bio:
Scott Renshaw has been a City Weekly staff member since 1999, including assuming the role of primary film critic in 2001 and Arts & Entertainment Editor in 2003. Scott has covered the Sundance Film Festival for 25 years, and provided coverage of local arts including theater, pop-culture conventions, comedy, literature,... more

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